william cleghorn
William Cleghorn (1718-1754)
William Cleghorn was a Scottish physician and philosopher. He, alongside Antoine Lavoisier, are responsible for the caloric theory. Although he only lived to the age of 36 he held the Chair of Pneumatics and Moral Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh from 1745 until his death in 1754.1 William Cleghorn was born in 1718; he and his eight siblings were raised by his uncle, George Cleghorn. His uncle George was a physician at the University of Dublin and also had previously served with the British army on the Mediterranean island of Minorca. The book he wrote about the islands epidemiology was still around in the nineteenth century. Not much can be found on William Cleghorn by a simple search on google. I had to dig much deeper to find information. One site did help reveal to me why this may be. John Lienhard at the University of Houston did a series on machines that make our civilization run and the minds whose ingenuity created them. It seems that William Cleghorn’s Caloric theory, although used for some sixty years, became obsolete and his name somewhat forgotten in history. Cleghorn’s work appears in the published lecture notes of his teacher Joseph Black, the great Scottish chemist. Joseph Black (1728-1799) was the preeminent man of science in the Scottish Enlightenment. He, like Cleghorn, also pursued his education at the University of Edinburgh. Black’s major accomplishment was explaining the difference between the intensity of heat and the amount of heat. Black invented the concept of specific heat in order to explain the different amounts of thermal energy absorbed by different materials when their temperature increases.2 Cleghorn received his doctor of Medicine in 1779 with a new theory of heat in his thesis, De Igne. He died just four years later, and history barely acknowledges his existence.3 Brilliant although short-lived, Cleghorn created a systematic description of caloric. It was a subtle, invisible fluid,
William Cleghorn was a Scottish physician and philosopher. He, alongside Antoine Lavoisier, are responsible for the caloric theory. Although he only lived to the age of 36 he held the Chair of Pneumatics and Moral Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh from 1745 until his death in 1754.1 William Cleghorn was born in 1718; he and his eight siblings were raised by his uncle, George Cleghorn. His uncle George was a physician at the University of Dublin and also had previously served with the British army on the Mediterranean island of Minorca. The book he wrote about the islands epidemiology was still around in the nineteenth century. Not much can be found on William Cleghorn by a simple search on google. I had to dig much deeper to find information. One site did help reveal to me why this may be. John Lienhard at the University of Houston did a series on machines that make our civilization run and the minds whose ingenuity created them. It seems that William Cleghorn’s Caloric theory, although used for some sixty years, became obsolete and his name somewhat forgotten in history. Cleghorn’s work appears in the published lecture notes of his teacher Joseph Black, the great Scottish chemist. Joseph Black (1728-1799) was the preeminent man of science in the Scottish Enlightenment. He, like Cleghorn, also pursued his education at the University of Edinburgh. Black’s major accomplishment was explaining the difference between the intensity of heat and the amount of heat. Black invented the concept of specific heat in order to explain the different amounts of thermal energy absorbed by different materials when their temperature increases.2 Cleghorn received his doctor of Medicine in 1779 with a new theory of heat in his thesis, De Igne. He died just four years later, and history barely acknowledges his existence.3 Brilliant although short-lived, Cleghorn created a systematic description of caloric. It was a subtle, invisible fluid,